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| Frank C. Samson, 1945 |
Look around today and you will see Old Glory, the flag of the United States of America, flying at half mast.
That is because 80 years ago today, Dec. 7, 1941, the U.S. Naval Base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, suffered a surprise attack by Japan.
More than 2,400 Americans were killed, nearly 1,200 wounded, eight U.S. battleships were sunk, 169 Navy and Army Air Corps planes were destroyed and 129 Japanese aircraft were shot down.
The following day, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on Japan.
War is hell.
My father, Frank Cameron Samson, had shipped out of Pearl Harbor on the battleship USS Idaho in June, missing the attack by six months. He spent six years in the Atlantic and Pacific theaters in battle support situations. His final deployment was on the USS Midway aircraft carrier. As a fire controlman he maintained and fired a range of military weaponry.
He never talked about his war experiences.
As a farm boy from the plains of North Dakota, he had never seen a mountain until he traveled west on the train as a young adult.
"I was awestruck by the Rocky Mountains," he said.
I can only imagine his long days at sea and intense moments during combat. He believed in service to his country and never complained. Ever.
Frank was the son of Scottish immigrant, David Samson. His mother, Jeanette Harvey, homesteaded in Minnesota in the early 1900's.
My father found peace and contentment doing things with his hands, which were large for his small stature. A devoted rock hound, in his later years he made beautiful bolo ties, broaches and pins from gems and minerals. He also planted and tended lovely gardens. He devoted his life to my mother, Dorothy Herron Samson, a native of Havre, Montana. They were married in Seattle in October of 1945, following the war.
Controlman Frank C. Samson passed away on August 17, 2006, one month shy of his 91st birthday.
Thank you for your service, Dad. So glad you got out of Pearl Harbor before the attack.
Love, Kevin
Yes. Thank you Frank. Good move to get out of Pearl before the infamous day or we might not be reading this warmhearted remembrance of your Dad.
ReplyDeleteTora! Tora! Tora! I hate war.
A lovely tribute, Kevin. It's interesting--my uncle who served in the Merchant Marines never spoke of his service either. It must have been horrible.
ReplyDeleteYes Kevin, some have called your dad's generation the "Great
ReplyDeleteGeneration". I served in the USN and spoke to many commissioned officers and NCO's noncommissioned personnel who served in WWII. What I noticed was that they would get frustrated in the telling of their experiences because there was so much to tell. It was as if they didn't know where to start. My heart goes out to those average guys who stood up
to be counted as against Hitler, Tojo Hideki and Mussolini.